University of Houston Athletics
Lady Cougars Earn Bid to WNIT Tournament
3/10/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 10, 2002
The University of Houston Lady Cougars, who recently wrapped up the regular season with a 22-7 overall record for their first 20-plus win season in 10 years, have received a bid to compete in this year's Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) beginning on March 13.
The Lady Cougars will host cross-town rival Rice (21-8) of the Western Athletic Conference at Hofheinz Pavilion in the first round of the tournament on Wednesday, March 13, with tip-off scheduled for 7:00 p.m. (CT). Should the Lady Cougars win, they will advance to play either Miami or Georgia Tech in the second round, slated to begin March 16.
The match-up between the Lady Cougars and the Lady Owls marks the first since 1996, the final year both were members of the Southwest Conference, when the two schools split the two-game season series, with Houston winning the first game at Hofheinz, 97-77, and Rice taking the second, 70-57, on February 10, 1996. The Lady Cougars are 35-5 lifetime against the Lady Owls since 1978.
This year also marks the first time the Lady Cougars have made back-to-back trips to the post-season since the 1990-91 (WNIT) and 1991-92 (NCAA) seasons and their third trip to the WNIT. Overall, Houston is a combined 1-5 in post-season games, including 1-3 in the WNIT. Last year, the Lady Cougars fell to the New Mexico Lobos by a final of 72-49 in the first round in Albuquerque, N.M.
Houston advanced to the semifinals of the WNIT in 1991 by defeating Northern Illinois in the first round before suffering back-to-back losses to Indiana and Kansas to finish in fourth place.
Houston's 2001-02 season is among the best in school history, with their current .759 winning percentage tied as the best ever and their seven losses tying the 1987-88 squad for the second-fewest in the Lady Cougars' 27-year history. They earned a first-round bye as the No. 2 seed at this year's Conference USA Women's Basketball Tournament, their highest league finish in school history, and defeated Charlotte in the quarterfinal round on March 2 before falling to eventual C-USA Champ Cincinnati in the semifinals on March 3.
Tickets to the game are available at www.uhcougars.com, at the UH Ticket Office located in the Athletics/Alumni Center on the UH campus and by calling (713) GO-COOGS (462-6647). General admission prices are $6 for adults and $4 for UH/Rice students, and youths 18 years of age and under. For group information, please call (713) 743-9444.
